Thru Hiking the Roof of the World

An interview with the first thru hikers of the Pamir Trail. All photos and videos are taken and owned my Michaela Hrda and Martina Merisi

Pamir Trail thru hikers Michaela Hrda and Martina Merisi on the shores of Sarez Lake

How do you test a brand new long-distance hiking trail that has not been hiked in one push before? Every section of the Pamir Trail (bar one, section 7) was tried and tested by various trekkers who helped exploring the route. But until 2024 no one had hiked the entire thing yet. In spring 2024 the Pamir Trail team received an email from Michaela Hrda, an avid long-distance hiker from Czechia, who expressed an interest in hiking the complete length of the PT. We officially hadn’t finished researching the final section yet, section 7, but this was a big opportunity to beta test the route. Together we would figure out section 7. During the run up to Micha’s departure mid-July with her hiking partner Martina Merisi we tried to tackle some of the challenges, from going through the existing trail beta of the route to the logistics of resupply. For the latter it was a bit of second guessing for us as well. Plus the route has around 80 stages and an e-visa would grant only a stay of 60 days. Plenty of unknowns (which was great as we got to figure the whole process out by just doing it). 

Shortly after Micha and Martina returned home, I had a conversation with the couple about their experiences. Below the article you can find the full recording of this interview. It is not the best quality but it does give you a sense of what it was like!

Camping near the Gushkhun Pass on section 7

Hi! We are very grateful to have you and superkeen to hear all your stories of the hike. You are the first people to have thru hiked the Pamir Trail, which is an amazing achievement. Would you mind introducing yourself?

Michaela: I’m a teacher back in Czechia and I’m also a writer. Because I’m a teacher I have the summers free to go on big adventures like these.

Martina: I’m a writer, photographer, traveller and coach. I love people and nature and was able to tag along with Michaela. I’m always looking for experiences that broadens my knowledge and inspiration. Doing something pioneering and unknown has been a dream since I was a child.

How do you feel now?

Martina: Thinking back of our Pamir Trail adventure is surprisingly emotional. We thought we had processed everything on the trail, not expecting a post-trek blues but we did our first lecture on the Pamir Trail yesterday and the final video made me cry, which made the entire venue cry. We relived the experience again. Now I see the trail differently. I forgot how difficult it was sometimes. Also my point of view changed. The level of risk was something I haven’t experienced before. Besides that the kindness and the generosity all came back to me. The people in Tajikistan made us feel home and I would love to share this experience with other people. I hope anyone who is coming to Tajikistan will have a similar experience. Maybe except for the landslides sections haha.

Michaela: I feel grateful we were able to do it and survived it haha. Same for the beautiful people we met along the way. And proud that we did manage to pull it off! But I'm happy to be home and I crazily enjoy the food I get to eat again. I’m really happy to be home!

Picture perfect camp spot with the impressive Mirali Wall in the background

Have you recovered physically and mentally already or are you still recovering?

Michaela: At the end we weren’t really devistated physically nor mentally. Our body has gotten used to hiking day in day out. Although the final part of the trail was at high altitude it was not not difficult, we were just hiking a bit little slower. As Martina said, we processed the adventure on the trail itself so there was no real post-trail blues. I was already looking forward to doing the presentations back in Czechia, seeing my friends and my dogs. It’s just excitement now.

Martina: I don’t think we had to recover so much. Only the lack of good sleep is catching up on me. I would love to have one day of rest. After finishing the trail we have been travelling a lot and preparing the presentation. I’m not sure when I can start sleeping properly again, hopefully soon. 

Which long-distance hiking trails have you done before? And how do they compare with the Pamir Trail?

Michaela: I started out with a few shorter ones like the Alta Vias in the Dolomites, which are still some of my favourites. I’ve done the Tour du Mont Blanc, I have crossed Iceland, I hiked  through Madeira. More recently I did the John Muir Trail in the USA, one of the longer treks. And I did a combo of the Via Alpina Red and Yellow in the Alps. All of these routes had visible trails throughout, the PT sometimes does not have a path. The other routes don’t have overgrown parts and landslides areas. The PT is definitely the most difficult trail I have done so far, none of the others were as intense as this. 

Martina: I experienced somewhat similar terrain in New Zealand on the Te Araroa regarding missing trails, but it was nowhere as technical and the scale in Tajikistan is something else. Often it was continuous hard terrain for long distances, whereas on other routes it’s often a small section. 

How did you find out about the Pamir Trail?

Michaela: The guy I hiked the Via Alpina with talked to me about the Pamir Trail. Kyrgyzstan was actually on my radar first. But after his mention I did some research on the Pamir Trail online, listened to some podcasts with you and that got me excited to go for it. I really wanted something away from civilisation. The Alps have become too crowded and developed and on the Via Alpina I was walking through villages everyday. We were camping and that was always near civilisation. That’s not why I go to the mountains. Plus it’s not that  exciting in terms of people. Locals in the Alps mind their own business, as they are used to tourists. I was longing for an off the beaten track experience where I could connect with pristine nature more and have unexpected meetings with the local mountain people. And that’s exactly what the Pamir Trail is about.

Martina: Misa approached me if I knew a guy that could join her. Yes, she wanted a guy! Then I said, hold on, I would love to do it! She couldn't find anyone and my plans were not set in stone yet. So I asked her: why don’t we go together? It was great and I’m very grateful for that. I had some reservations as people are an important reason for me to go to the mountains and I was afraid the Tajik mountains were too remote with no locals around. Also I didn’t speak Russian (still a major language in Tajikistan). In the end, I was amazed and still am.

Hiking section 8, for both Michaela and Martina an absolute favourite part of the Pamir Trail

How did you communicate with the locals?

Michaela: I have been learning Russian a few years ago for a trip to Georgia. It’s pretty similar to Czech so it’s fairly easy for us to learn. Overall it was quite easy to communicate with the locals in most places. Only in the super remote villages without schools, like Ghorif, Russian (or English for that matter) was not spoken. But with hands and feet you get pretty far. Russian was otherwise fine.

What were your experiences with people throughout the PT?

Michaela: Wherever you go, the people in northern Tajikistan and the Pamirs are extremely hospitable and kind. Honestly they are the best people I have ever met. I have travelled to 50 countries and the people in Tajikistan are the nicest people I have met so far. 

Martina: In northern Tajikistan the women did not want to be photographed which we of course respected. In the Pamirs the people didn’t mind this so much. There were some obvious differences in religion as well, in the Pamirs the majority in Ismaeli, a somewhat more relaxed form of Islam and you could sense that in daily life.

The people on the Pamir Trail make the hike very special

What rating would you give the Pamir Trail on the scale of 1 (very easy) - 10 (extremely hard)?

Michaela: (Silence for a moment) It's hard to rate the trail as a whole thing. Some parts were very easy, like section 8 and section 9, as there were trails. But there were extremely difficult parts, 10+. The second half of section 2 and 3 were the most difficult part for us, I would give that a 10. Both mentally and physically. Fann Mountains were not so easy. But that was maybe because we were fresh on the trail and not used to hiking every day yet. We were also pushing it a little in terms of distances. There was a 27 km day, which made us realise it was too much. We decided to enjoy the trail and not focus on the time pressure anymore, even if it meant we wouldn't make it.

Martina: I would say an 8 for the trail overall. But yes, some bits were a lot harder than others. It’s also the length of the trail and the fact that on some parts there are several difficult days in a row, which makes it mentally tough. It also depends on your experience level. We have quite a bit of experience in technical terrain, but a beginning hiker may find certain bits extremely hard, 10+.

Is the trail for anyone?

Michaela: Absolutely not. Certain sections like 1, 8 and 9 are fine for hikers with some experience, but the other is for expert hikers only. Even intermediate hikers may want to think twice before tackling the thru hike of the PT. I am a rock climber and have done glaciers so I was confident on parts of the trail with steep and glaciated terrain. 

Martina: You need to be mentally strong and not afraid of intimidating terrain. Vertigo is on some parts of the Pamir Trail not a good thing to have. Some bits are very exposed.

The terrain on some of the Pamir Trail sections is pretty extreme and definitely not for everyone

What about navigation? Was it difficult? What tools did you use to find the way?

Michaela: We used the best map application in the world, the Czech one mapy.cz haha. That was it.

Martina: I was really surprised the navigation part was very easy. When there is no trail you just need to know the direction right. When there was a trail it was easy to follow. 

Michaela: Even though there weren’t trail markers or any signing it was straightforward. Occasionally we missed a turn and had to go back a little, but the (open source) digital mapping really worked well.

How did you organise your food supplies along the trail?

Martina: We brought around 45 kg of food from Czechia. We were supported by a company called Adventure Menu, who make very tasty freeze-dried food. We brought some oats as well. In Dushanbe we spent a lot of time calculating how much food we needed on the various sections. Micha was super awesome with the food distribution and packages for drop off. She was in touch with some locals about the drop off locations. Without the resupply packages, I’m not sure how we would have managed. Sometimes there was nothing to buy, no shops at all. Maybe only Chinese soups and bread.

Michaela: I probably lost 7-9kg doing the trail even though we had our own food most of the time. I can’t imagine eating ramen, eggs and bread for almost three months. Resupply along the route is very much needed. This was definitely one of the biggest challenges before we left. We started organising some of the packages in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. After crossing the border into Tajikistan, we stopped at the crossroads leading to the villages in the Fann Mountains and gave local taxi drivers packages to drop off at the home stays. Our mistake was that we passed through in the evening, when drivers don’t go to the villages. You need to make these arrangements in the morning! That’s when the drivers are there and don’t forget to take their number plus the homestay numbers where the packages are dropped off. Greenhouse Hostel in Dushanbe were super helpful. They organised some deliveries in the Pamirs with the help of tour guides and companies and they did this for free! Huge thank you to them.

Freeze dried food is the way forward on most parts of the PT

How light weight did you go?

Martina: I was kind of light weight, compared to previous trips. Base weight 8 kg. I didn’t want to compromise on my hard shells so I was 1kg heavier than Michaela. Fully loaded with food added 5 kg to the weight. In the second half of the PT we brought an ice axe and warmer sleeping bags, adding another 1.5kg. On section 6 we anticipated hiking for 10 days straight without resupply so we had 17 kg in total. But we bypassed the original route due to snow so in hindsight it wasn’t needed.

Michaela: That was without water. But we never carried more than half a litre as there was water almost everywhere, except the end of section 5 and the start of section 7. When we changed for warmer equipment in Dushanbe (after our visa run to Uzbekistan) we carried a bit more and as we were already very trail fit we thought it was going to be ok. However, I felt the difference in weight. But my whole body was in pain. I was so sore. 

Martina: I could not have done the PT with the set up I had in New Zealand. This was a very light approach for me. Micha and I are built differently, she is 54kg, I am 70kg. Heavier hikers might find the trail a bit harder due to the steep ups and downs. 

Michaela: Shoes are another thing. We did it on trail runners. Instead of crampons we used strap-on micro spikes for the glaciated bits of the route. The micro spikes were even more helpful for the landslide areas that are crumbly and steep. I would never do the Pamir Trail in heavy hiking boots, despite the rocks and scree. I had no blisters at all.

Jan: I can imagine on some sections with scree and rocks people may prefer hiking boots. Especially the parts where rocks move. 

Michaela: One time it was a bit dicey, with a boulder half my body size rolling onto my thigh. I had to hold it and jump away quickly. I have never experienced something like this, it's pretty scary! 

Ultra light set up for the PT

What was the best and the worst part of the Pamir Trail?

Michaela: A number of times we said to each other: this is the best view of the trail! Fann Mountains are a definite favourite. And section 8 with all the lakes, especially Lake Sarez. It was also the most emotional as well. Apart from the variety and beauty of the scenery it’s also the people along the Pamir Trail. They make the Pamir Trail what it is. Worst? Landslide passages on the trail, hands down. Those were awful.

Martina: I really loved the second half of section 2. It was hell as well, especially the approach to the Dushokha Pass. It was one of the hardest passes. But the pass was pretty awesome too. I just love that area. The end of section 5 is another favourite. I love the green, hilly character of the landscape and the fact that it is a bit of a ridge walk. I’m not so much into glaciers. It reminded me of Scotland. Yet the high Pamirs were in full view, with these giant mountain peaks in the distance. Absolutely stunning. And I also thought section 8 is great. Beautiful. The worst part for me was the descent into the Yazgulem Valley from the Gushkhun Pass. The trail went straight into a landslide area, and it was horrible terrain. I fell in a rocky bit, got trapped and got a little hurt. Luckily Micha helped me with my rucksack.

Michaela: Oh I’d like to add one more. I love green meadows with glaciated peaks in the background. That was on the first two stages of section 6. It had a red coloured river running through the valley. Unreal. 

What are the trail stats?

Michaela: Not sure exactly yet? We did roughly 1300 km in total with probably around 60,000 metres of vertical gain. We had 69 walking days plus 5 days of rest and recovery. We did have some lifts on roads, maybe 100km on the Pamir Highway as it was very unpleasant to walk. 

(Michaela and Martina bypassed the Starghee Pass and the Upper Vanj valley due to snowfall. They crossed the Psoda Pass that leads to Kaleikhum. After that there is no walking trail to Vanj).

Pro tips?

Martina: Wear long trousers! I would have saved a lot of bad words!

Michaela: You wouldn’t have so many names Jan haha. For me it’s micro spikes for the landslide parts. And of course hiking poles, although most people would bring those anyways.

Thanks a lot for sharing your story! If you want to know more about Michaela and Martina and their adventures, you can check the links below.

Michaela’s media platforms

Instagram and Facebook: @misketravels - Website: misketravels.cz

Martina’s media platforms

Instagram and Facebook: @dusenacestach - Website: dusenacestach.eu